ROSE HILL, Kan. (TCN) — Authorities recently arrested a couple on suspicion of torturing, abusing, and killing their 6-year-old adopted child.
According to the Rose Hill Police Department, on Sept. 10, 2024, dispatch received information regarding possible human remains buried in a backyard on North Meeker Court. The following morning, officers secured a search warrant and found the decomposed remains of a child in a trash bag buried 23 inches below ground.
Investigators identified the victim as Kennedy Schroer, whose birth name was Natalie Garcia.
Multiple law enforcement agencies began investigating the young girl’s death. In November 2024, an autopsy revealed the victim died of probable suffocation and her death was ruled a homicide.
According to KAKE-TV, investigators believe Kennedy Schroer died in late 2020. Fifty-year-old Crystina Schroer and 53-year-old Joseph Schroer reportedly adopted her in 2019 after the biological mother’s rights were removed in 2018.
Police arrested Crystina Schroer and Joseph Schroer on Feb. 3. Crystina Schroer faces charges of first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, child abuse, torture, theft, forgery, Medicaid fraud, and desecration of a corpse, while Joseph Schroer faces charges of child abuse, torture, liability for crimes of another, interference with law enforcement, theft, and Medicaid fraud.
In a statement, the police department said, “This case was built through the development of timelines spanning more than four years, which is the primary reason for the length of the investigation. Natalie has always been the focus of this investigation, and we believe we can now tell her story accurately.”
